Working with mustangs

[Dianne(GodMommy2Max)]

Well hello my marestare friends, Today i came to own 2 Registered Mustangs, The mare is 8 years old and great she has 30 days under saddle, so i am confident i can maintain her manners and saddle trainning with no issues, but The 5 yr old gelding as Tracey called him is a wild boy! hes never had any work done on him other then being chased by a bag on the end of a whip, Im use to teaching ground work and see no trouble with me doing this BUT id like to know what you all think would be a good course of action with him, Im not use to working with the mustang breed , but im going to treat him as any breed would be my guess i want to GENTEL him not BREAK him , to me there is a diffrence , any ideas out there does anyone think mustangs need to be treated /genteled diffrently then say a QH?

[chincoteager]

www.honorthehorses.com/work3.htm
this book worked for training Chincoteagues.....but it is focused on Mustangs

[finallyashowgirl]

Congratulations, Dianne, on your new additions! I remember you saying you've been wanting horses again for a long time.

[bndranch]

You have to earn a mustangs trust. My brother adopted two of them with thier dams from BLM in Utah. The one dam they could not get loaded in the trailer so Prince was weaned the day he was bought. The filly was brought home with her dam and her dam was estimated at about 8. She dam ended up strangling herself to get out of her wood enclosure one day but she had been with her filly for almost a year when this happened.
Needless to say Prince learned early on he needed people and was the easiest horse to work with and train. Shadow on the other hand was very nervous and timid around people. I do alot of round pen work (ie John Lyons, Monty Roberts and such). She would almost out last me in there, her stamina was unsurpassed. The difference between the two was night and day. Shadow was very set in her ways and wanted nothing to do with humans and riding her was not easy. She would have rather kept to herself. IF she didn't want to do she wasn't going to and there was no way around it. I tried to ground drive her up our driveway one day took me almost 3hrs and she was lathered in sweat. Prince was awesome. If you wanted to do something with him that he had never done he just said okay and took it in stride.
I also worked with a vet who adopted a mustang draft mare from BLM when she was 8. I used to take care of his horses while he was out of town and he told me everyday when I fed I had to touch her even though she had been in captivity for quite a few years. He enduranced this mare and completed the Tevis cup on her! Mind you she looks like a Percheron.
Hopefully you have mustangs more like Prince. They are awesome creatures once they totally trust you!
Good Luck,
Brittany

[lisanc]

bndranch, you are absolutely right!!! Trust, trust, trust is the foreground and basis for mustangs (or any horse). Learn his limits at first and then work from them. My sis and I worked with mustangs for several years. Once you have their trust and they have yours (a biggy!!!) they are limitless. Just go slow and take your time. There might be set backs one day, but leaps and bounds the next. Good Luck with your mustangs!

[Dianne(GodMommy2Max)]

Thanks so much guys, I went to visit today and BabyDoll is just so welcoming to affection and love she is ok with being brushed, her feet she picks up nicely , she doesnt mind her ears touched and shes not spooked by the trailor All good things, she does ok on a lead but doesnt want to trot with me she pinned her ears at that so im thinking she just needs a refresher on that.
Toby (Who i affectionaly call Sir Struts Alot!) wasnt to awful he was intrested in the camera and let me rub his head and kiss his nose But when i went to take that darn clip off his alter where someone left it he bolted off I think tomorrow is time to around him up and get him to the round pen and leave him then a bit while i do some work with him! , Heres 2 questions for you guys, 1 these two have been together daily for 5 years and he is kinda like her son very attached and he calls to her a lot when i have her with me , do you think it will be ok to move her to a diffrent location then him seeing as he needs more work then she does, or could seperating them be asking for more trouble? i cant decide on this one and 2 The lady I got them from says all vaccines are up today but i really wanna be safe , is it ok to give shots again to be safe or can that be bad she said the had shots in the fall "she thinks"

[bndranch]

The two mustangs my brother had had been together since weanlings and NEVER seperated. I felt it was imparative to seperate them to get any work done. While they were upset at first they soon realized that they didn't need each other as much. If I wouldn't have seperated them I wouldn't have gotten as far as I did. Mind you they were in their teens when I did this. Just be prepared for some calling but they learned to deal with it.
The "shots" if she "thinks" they were done in the fall do em again in my opinon. The "I think" scenerio usually means that they haven't a clue! It shouldn't hurt them but might want to give your vet a call!

[lisanc]

I think they should definitely be separated. They both need to learn independence. Do it now before you start working in the saddle so you can limit bad reactions. BLM mustangs are very dependant on the rest of the herd. It is part of their survival instinct much like birds in a flock. And I also believe that the shots should be done, but you should consult your vet first. When someone says "they think" it usually means they are not sure or they weren't done at all.